Astronomy
by Fickle Penguin
Summary: Remus thinks they're going to study, but Sirius has other plans. RemusSirius.


Author's Note: This is the result of me staring at one piece of Remus/Sirius artwork for two days straight in an attempt to make me stop craving this pairing so much. It failed, and not only made me want it MORE, but made me write this. Inspired by Marta's work.

---

"Moony!" came a hissing voice close to his left ear. Recognizing it, he quirked his lips and ignored it, continuing to scan the pages of his book. "Moony, I saw that, you smiled, you can't ignore me."

"I can try very hard," Remus said, glancing up at Sirius.

"Got your attention!" Sirius proclaimed proudly, standing up straight. "Now get up, come with me."

Remus closed his book, holding his place with a finger. "Go with you?" he asked. "Go with you where?"

"I need help with my astronomy homework," Sirius said.

Remus grinned. Despite his friend's name, Sirius was terrible at astronomy, but he refused to ever ask for any help. But this sudden interest in his grade was also cause for concern. Everyone knew what the astronomy tower was really for. Or maybe that was just Remus getting his hopes up again. "So you finally admit that astronomy is your absolute worst subject?"

"Oh, no, no, no," Sirius said, wagging a finger at him. "Muggle studies was my worst subject, if you can't remember why I was forced to drop that class before the end of my fifth year." He leaned on the back of the couch, eyeing Remus. "No, my real plan for making you help me is not to improve my grade in that class, but to lure you off to a place where we can be alone and I can seduce you."

Remus snorted. "I'll help with your homework, but I doubt you'd be able to seduce me." No, he hadn't said that right. It wasn't that he wouldn't be able to, it was more... he wouldn't want to.

"I'm the best at what I do," Sirius said with a smirk that meant no good. "Now get up and come with me to the astronomy tower."

Remus shook his head and marked his place, then grabbed his book bag and went with Sirius, following the older boy. He looked a little too happy to be going off to do homework, but then again, the animagus seemed to always be in a good mood. It was a good thing, too, because all of Sirius' moods were contagious. However, this mood was different from his normal cheerful. Remus was no Sirius mood expert, but after six years, he was one of the best. It seemed like Sirius was almost nervous, which was strange. Sirius Black was always confident, never nervous or worried.

He must have been staring, because Sirius gave him a weird look and his steps slowed. "You alright, Moony?" he asked.

"Of course," Remus said. "Just worried. You look too happy."

"Too happy, Moony?" Sirius barked a laugh. Remus noticed that since he'd become an animagus, his laughter had taken on a doggish quality. "No such thing!"

Remus gave a half-smile. "Whatever you say, Padfoot."

The astronomy tower was empty, which was usual for a Wednesday night. Sirius started to hum a soft tune as he glanced up at the stars. The full moon had been a few nights ago, so the moon was still large and bright, and as Sirius stared up, it almost looked like he was glowing. Remus watched him for a moment before setting his book bag down.

"Alright, what is it your having trouble with?" he asked.

Sirius looked back at his friend over his shoulder, then pointed up. "See that star?" he asked.

Remus followed his finger, seeing a bright star. "Yeah," he said. "That's you." He grinned.

"It's my star," Sirius said, returning Remus' grin. "There..." He pointed to another one. "That's my cousin."

"Andromeda," Remus said. "She gets a whole constellation."

"Bellatrix," Sirius said, pointing again. "She's with my dad's constellation."

"What about Regulus?" Remus asked.

"Can't see him," Sirius said, lowering his arm. "Is my whole family up there?"

"Narcissa's not a star," Remus pointed out. "Is there a reason for this?"

Sirius shrugged and leaned against the wall next to a telescope. "Not really," he said, sniffing.

Remus sighed softly, recognizing this as one of Sirius' moods. He'd been thinking too much again. He went over and leaned next to Sirius. "You don't have to deal with them anymore," he said. "Don't worry about them."

"I don't care about them," Sirius said, looking down at his wrist as he tugged on his bracelets. "Why would I? They aren't my family."

Remus put his hand over Sirius' to calm him down. He knew about the younger boy's habit of playing with his bracelets when he was tense. "Even if you don't care about them, I know it must be hard to be so easily forgotten by your family," he said.

"I hate them, that's all," Sirius said, pulling his hands away from Remus'. "And the Potter's, they're great. They've always been more family to me than the Blacks. You and Wormtail, too."

Remus smiled. "You say that like we don't already know," he said. "Come on, cheer up and we can do some astronomy homework."

Sirius snorted and straightened up. "You can't have 'cheer up' and 'astronomy homework' in the same sentence, Moony. They cancel each other out."

"Well, then let's just do some astronomy homework," Remus said, going over to one of the telescopes. "Before some amorous couple decides they want to use this place for something other than homework."

The look Sirius gave him sent an unexpected shiver down his spine. Sirius must have noticed his wide-eyed look, because he smirked before walking over to the telescope. "They might mistake us for that amorous couple and not bother us," he said.

Remus was quiet for a moment. It was amazing that the mere idea could shut his mind down so thoroughly. "Y-yeah," he said, blinking stupidly.

"So, Professor Moony, what's in today's lesson?" Sirius asked, leaning on the telescope and snapping Remus out of his daze.

"Number one," Remus said after a moment of regaining his thoughts, "is don't lean on the telescope." Sirius snickered and straightened, and Remus continued, "Second, we're learning about the moon."

"Yeah, you missed a great lesson the other night during the full moon," Sirius said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"You all three missed that lesson and I know that," Remus said. "Don't try to act like you've been attending classes." He pulled himself up so he was sitting on the wall. "Aim the telescope at the moon."

"This lesson must have been so easy for you," Sirius said as he worked with the telescope.

Remus rolled his eyes. "You think all lessons are easy for me," he said, looking down to inspect his fingernails for a moment. When he looked back up, he found the telescope pointed directly at him.

"That's because you're a genius," Sirius said, giving the older boy a soft, hinting smile.

"The moon, Sirius," he said, using the other's name for emphasis and pushing the telescope away from him.

Sirius, of course, obviously had no intention of listening to him. Instead, he stepped closer to Remus, almost between his legs. Remus let his hands face, almost bracing himself, watching him stare and staring back. That nervousness he'd seen in Sirius was back, and the air felt strange because of it.

"Padfoot?" he asked after a few long moments. "The, uh, moon?"

"Are you okay?" Sirius asked suddenly.

Remus was surprised by the question. "I'm fine," he said. He wanted to run, but Sirius was in front of him and too close and not close enough.

"You could let Madame Pomfrey heal this," Sirius said, his fingers brushing against Remus' latest addition to his collection of scars, a line perpendicular to his jaw.

"It's fine," Remus said, his fingers tightening on the stone wall. "You're the one who said scars were sexy."

The nervous air that had been clinging to Sirius disappeared and he relaxed visibly. "So I did," he said, his hand dropping from Remus' cheek to brush against his clenching hand. "Calm down. Why are you so nervous?" He was between Remus' legs now, so close, just inches away.

"Not sure," Remus said. "Could have something to do with the fact that you are standing very close to me."

Then he was closer and Remus wanted it to end. He would either fall forward into Sirius or backwards off the wall. They both seemed like good options at the moment, since they would both kill him.

"I'm trying to seduce you," Sirius said, breath warm against Remus' lips, and he could smell the pumpkin juice Sirius had drank at dinner.

"I see that now," Remus said, surprised he could speak coherent English. "You seem confident that I'll give in."

"I told you," Sirius said, and the feeling of his voice was driving him crazy, "I'm good at what I do."

"That's yet to be decided," Remus whispered.

Then he smiled, and Remus knew he was outshining his namesake even though he couldn't see. He couldn't see because his eyes were closed, when had he closed them? It must have been around the time that Sirius kissed him, because it was hard to remember when they had gone from talking to kissing.

The kiss was soft and left Remus craving more, feeling like it wasn't enough and too much. The option of falling back to his death still seemed like a good option, but if he did that, he might take Sirius with him, because their fingers were entwined and clinging. Remus felt Sirius asking, begging, and he parted his lips with a soft noise, which was returned with a satisfied one. A gentle tongue invaded his mouth, exploring slowly, and Remus tried to reciprocate, but he knew it was awkward and clumsy.

After what felt like an eternity and only a few moments, Sirius broke the contact and they were left staring at each other. The moon illuminated Sirius' face and... was that a blush?

"I think it's been decided," Sirius said, voice low.

"I don't know," Remus said slowly. "I may have to do more research first."

"I think that can be arranged." Sirius smiled and closed the space between them again.

---

"Did you finish the paper?" James asked as Remus and Sirius entered through the portrait hole.

"Oh, damn," Sirius said. "Forgot about the paper." He looked at Remus. "Looks like we'll have to continue our research tomorrow night."

Remus grinned. "If you insist," he said.

"Oh, I insist," Sirius said gravely. "We may have to continue research up in the dorm."

"Maybe we should start on that tonight."

"I agree," Sirius said. "Let's get right on it."

As they rushed up the stairs to the dorm, a very confused Peter turned to James. "What was that about?"

James shook his head. "I don't want to know," he said, and decided to avoid the dorm for a few hours.


End file.
